Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo is known for his intensely expressive madrigals and sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. As we commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of his death in 2013, one of Gesualdo's last works still remains to be discovered: the second book of his Sacrae Cantiones. These motets in six and seven voices have remained in obscurity due to the fact that several of the vocal parts were lost. Thanks to his methodical research, musicologist and conductor James Wood has managed to reconstruct the score for the first time and perform these works as they might have been sung in 1603. This fascinating investigation took three years to complete. Leading the VocalConsort Berlin Wood offers illuminating readings of these long-forgotten gems of the Italian Renaissance.

The Guardian, 28th February 2013This recording of the complete second book with the superb Vocalconsort Berlin, who ensure that not a single detail of the music is overlooked, demonstrates how convincing it is...It's all beautifully rendered, and creates the perfect showcase for what is by any standards some of the most astonishing music of the late Renaissance, which no one has been able to hear for 400 years.

Gramophone Magazine, April 2013The Vocalconsort Berlin do [Gesualdo] proud, treating some pieces chorally and others with soloists; like the motets themselves, their interpretation stays within certain confines, which allows them to negotiate all but the most demanding situations with confidence.

American Record Guide, July/August 2013In the third disc here, we are indebted to James Wood - composer, conductor, and musicologist - for his gift to us of a new piece of music by Gesualdo. Wood spent three years on the reconstruction of a piece lost for 400 years, the 1603 Sacrae Cantiones Book 2. And it's a brave ensemble that takes on a new piece like this, especially when the composer is Gesualdo.

BBC Music Magazine, May 2013We are treated to an amazing kaleidoscope of singing styles and choral effects...this world premiere recording provides an outstanding contribution in the anniversary year of Gesualdo's death.

Early Music Review, August 2013Harmonic surprise and conventional-if-idiosyncratic counterpoint tend to be knitted seamlessly together in a mature idiom that confirms Gesualdo's stature as a leading composer of the period.